I hope you like the poem.

Wolves coming out of the trees, Northwest corner; added compass rose and scale bar; added trees and sleeping furs. A few clouds from Alyssa Faden annual. Along with 3 areas for fresh water fishing.

Added the shellfish. So, a newer map.

A preliminary cave system. Upper cave, inhabited. Lower cave, they didn't survive.

I wrote this poem over ten years ago, I feel it is appropriate.

title: Winter Sunset

paleolithic, but not scientific, just my imagination.

[ Copyright by me, 2003. All Rights Reserved. ]

The sunset for winter,

the last one for many days,

was upon the cave people.

Outliers arrived,

from their smaller,

less defensible,

smaller storage caves,

for the past several days.

The leaves were falling,

the wind was brisk,

a distant sound,

of saber tooth tigers,

feeding.

Mammoths' wool,

thicker this year,

lets prepare,

for extra snow.

The thorn fence is in place,

the opening is guarded,

by Swift One and

his pal,

Big Spearman.

They took out the last saber tooth,

to attempt to get in,

during the last Winter Night,

made a pleasant relief,

from dried mammoth meat.

A patrol of hunters,

went out to sweep the Valley,

some smaller families are missing,

the early arrivals,

having not yet appeared,

and the ones always last,

came yesterday.

Hope Too-Lazy remembered,

to carry his spear,

point backwards,

you shoulda seen the look on his face,

when the wolf jumped at his back,

that spear point,

startled the wolf to,

Too-Lazy survive,

but not the wolf.

Smell-Far comes out of the cave,

she shout, "People blood on the air !

Hunters Up and Out !"

Then they arrive,

after we get all hunters and learners,

in place,

what left of 5 families,

saber teeths got the rest.

Well, we make sweep of Valley,

come Spring,

some of the youngers,

need spear throw practice,

we teach sabers we not food !

They all in now,

behind the thorn fence,

those that gonna make it,

lets hope for the best.

Maybe some still out there,

trying to get Home,

but we gotta get the fence closed,

before the Darkness settles in...

Things walk in the Night,

some of it saber teeth,

some wolves,

Mammoth blunder about,

maybe something else out there,

it big, we leave it alone.

Ha ! Too-Lazy made it !

Got 4 People with him,

one broken arm,

rest cut up,

we look after them,

4 hunters go out behind them,

some saber teeths back off,

we learn their markings,

so can take them out in the Spring.

We smile at them,

they smile back,

we laugh,

they not like that,

and move off.

Close thorn fence,

Too-Lazy say are no more coming,

we remember them in Spring,

and then hunt for saber teeths,

that think People meat easy to have.

We teach them stay away from us,

or learn to live with fewer numbers,

like we did,

in the past.

Spearmen watch the cliff above,

others watch around thorn fence,

we do better than 5 winters ago,

more survive.

Singer walks out of Home Cave,

to sing good-bye to Sunset,

we will not see it for many days.

She sings of birds,

travel and hoping,

of mammoth slow walk across land,

of quick saber teeths and wolves,

fighting for the spoils,

of our hunts.

She sings of the bright dots in sky,

at night, glistening like fires,

of Old Ones,

those who live and die before us live.

She sings of the lonesome time,

when we were few, now we many,

maybe we survive now,

teach saber teeth to stay away.

The Sun lowers behind mountains,

Darkness comes on snow feet,

tiny flakes slowly spin out,

of gathering darkness.

Spring be here by and by,

but now it is Winter Night.

Stay close to the fire,

we have enough to eat this winter,

more of us not get killed,

by wolves and saber teeth,

Tamer, he say he has

tamed some wolves,

to help guard,

we see if that true,

and if they good with us,

during the Hunt.

Winter Night here,

feel the Darkness,

like spider web,

on face.

We pull thorns and pile rocks,

about Cave entrance,

and settle in,

for long Winter Sleep.

Spring arrive,

we teach sabers lesson,

they not soon forget.

Too-Late brought a skin with him,

what Smart-Tak have found,

before he got eaten,

it full of flints,

ready to be made into points

and knives.

Lul-Sar bring bundle of sticks,

they be made into spears,

over the winter.

Saber teeth get surprise,

next Spring.

Aha ! Wall shadow on the cliff was set for 40%. Set now to 50% opacity like everything else.

Rocks moved to their own sheet with less length shadows.

I made more of a river into a bay than a cave, not much refinement. Probably need to tone down some of the cliff/glacier effects. Took just a few minutes to do this.

Trees and rocks.

Yeah, 300 year gap in everyone's memory. Earth is now an orbiting city, if I remember correctly, around three thousand kilometers across. With a 5 pointed star metal structure as part of it. The center is a huge clear dome.

I found this in a web search, its similar to what is in the books. There are apparently hundreds of sub-floors. I'm not making that many of these floor tiles.